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International  Conciliation 

Published  monthly  by  the 

American  Association  for  International  Conciliation 
Entered  as  second  class  matter  at  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Postoffice,  February  23,  1909,  under  act  of  July  16, 1891 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  MEXICO 


BY 

JAMES  DOUGLAS 
MAY.  1910,  No.  30 

American  Association  for  International  Conciliation 
Sub-station  84  (50 1  West  1 1 6th  Street) 
New  York  City 


The  Executive  Committee  of  the  Association 
for  International  Conciliation  wish  to  arouse  the 
interest  of  the  American  people  in  the  progress  of 
the  movement  for  promoting  international  peace 
and  relations  of  comity  and  good  fellowship 
between  nations.  To  this  end  they  print  and 
circulate  documents  giving  information  as  to  the 
progress  of  these  movements,  in  order  that 
individual  citizens,  the  newspaper  press,  and 
organizations  of  various  kinds  may  have  readily 
available  accurate  information  on  these  subjects. 

For  the  information  of  those  who  are  not  familiar 
with  the  work  of  the  Association  for  International 
Conciliation,  a  list  of  its  publications  will  be 
found  on  page  23. 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  MEXICO 

Its  mines  were  the  bait  which  first  tempted  foreign 
capital  to  enter  Mexico,  but  neither  foreigners  them¬ 
selves  nor  their  capital  were  welcome  while  Mexico 
was  under  Spanish  rule.  English  commercial  agents 
were  allowed  to  reside  in  Vera  Cruz.  Their  ostensible 
duty  was  to  manage  the  African  Slave  trade,  which 
was  exclusively  in  English  hands.  But  as  Spain  made 
no  iron  or  steel  or  woolen  goods,  these  merchants 
carried  on  a  profitable  business  in  these  commodities. 
Pablo  Macedo  'in  La  Evolution  Mercantil  (Page  35), 
estimates  that  in  the  last  period  of  Spanish  rule  from 
1796  to  1820  there  were  imported  into  Vera  Cruz: 

Spanish  and  colonial  goods  im¬ 
ported  from  other  Spanish  colonies  $35,000,000 

or  13.50% 

Spanish  goods  imported  direct ..  .$i  12,400,000 

or  43.40% 

Foreign  goods  . $111,800,000 

or  43.10% 

Total  .  .  .  .$259,200,000 

or  100.00% 

But  Spain  carefully  guarded  her  mines  from  all 
foreign  intrusion.  They  belonged  to  the  Crown,  but 
the  King  (by  Section  2  of  Chapter  V  of  the  Royal 


3 


Ordinance  of  the  Mines),  “without  separating  them 
from  the  royal  patrimony,”  grants  them  “to  subjects 
in  property  and  possessions,”  under  certain  conditions. 
The  possessor  could  dispose  of  his  mine  by  will  or 
legacy  or  sale,  but  only  to  Spanish  subjects.  (Charles 
Thomson’s  The  Ordinances  of  the  Mines,  Page  55.) 

The  Spanish  republics  of  the  West  Hemisphere 
have  all  without  exception  adopted  the  policy  of  dis¬ 
tinguishing  between  the  ownership  of  the  surface 
lands,  which  the  State  disposes  of  absolutely,  and  the 
ownership  of  the  minerals,  of  which  the  State  retains 
possession.  All  likewise  continue,  as  did  old  Spain,  to 
levy  a  percentage  on  the  precious  metals  extracted. 
But  all  Spanish  America  has  abandoned  old  Spain’s 
selfish  desire  to  reserve  the  enjoyment  of  her  mines 
to  Spanish  subjects.  The  first  step  towards  revising 
in  the  direction  of  greater  liberality,  the  old  Spanish 
code  was  the  passage  by  the  Mexican  Congress  of  the 
mining  law  of  1823.  The  new  statute  enacted  that 
“The  repeal  shall  extend  only  so  as  to  enable  foreign¬ 
ers  to  contract  with  mine  owners  for  supplying  them 
with  capital  in  all  the  modes  which  are  usual  in  such 
contracts,  upon  the  terms  that  shall  be  most  con¬ 
venient  to  both  parties,  so  that  they  may  even  acquire 
in  property  shares  in  the  concern  to  which  they  supply 
capital.” 

The  famous  mines  of  Mexico  had  yielded  up  to  the 
beginning  of  the  last  century  $1,500,000,000.  But 
they  had  almost  without  exception  been  closed  when 
the  revolution  broke  out  in  1810.  In  the  interval  be- 


4 


tween  i8io  and  the  passage  of  the  first  enabling  act  of 
1823  they  had  become  flooded,  the  primitive  machin¬ 
ery  with  which  they  had  been  operated  had  decayed, 
and  the  mine  owners  had  been  impoverished  by  their 
struggle  with  Spain  and  by  perpetual  internal  strife. 

The  Permission  to  enlist  foreign  capital  was  re¬ 
sponded  to  in  1824  by  three  English  associations, 
“The  United  Mexican  Association'’  with  a  capital  of 
£240,000,  to  build  a  custom  smelter  as  well  as  to  pur¬ 
chase  mines  (See  Taylor’s  Selections,  Page  XI),  the 
“Anglo-Mexican  Associates,”  with  a  capital  of 
£1,000,000,  to  work  mines  in  the  Guanajuato  District, 
including  the  celebrated  Valenciana,  and  the  Purris- 
sima  in  the  Real  de  Catorce,  and  the  company  of  the 
“Adventurers  in  the  Mines  of  Real  del  Monte.” 

Thus  commenced,  as  soon  as  even  partial  political 
stability  was  secured,  the  influx  of  capital  into  Mex¬ 
ico.  Since  then  the  mining  laws  have  been  made  so 
liberal  that  they  hardly  discriminate  between  foreign¬ 
ers  and  natives.  But  they  are  based  on  the  funda¬ 
mental  Spanish  principle  already  referred  to,  that  the 
State  maintains  perpetual  ownership  of  the  minerals. 
Under  Mexican  law  the  Federal  Government  leases 
the  mineral  ground  but  the  tenant’s  occupancy  is  se¬ 
cure  as  long  as  he  pays  the  rent  and  observes  the 
other  conditions  imposed.  The  common  law,  which 
we  derive  from  England,  vests  in  the  owner  of  the 
surface  the  ownership  of  all  beneath  the  surface.  But 
it  is  a  debatable  question  whether  our  system  or  the 
Spanish  conserves  best  the  mineral  resources,  and 


5 


makes  the  fairer  return  to  the  people  at  large  for 
the  enormous  values  they  give  away  for  an  insigni¬ 
ficant  price,  when  they  sell  outright  their  mineral  lands. 
The  Mexican  government,  following  Spanish  prece¬ 
dent,  derives  additional  revenue  by  taxing  the  output. 
That  being  the  law  and  custom  in  Mexico,  the  State 
has  every  motive  for  encouraging  the  development  of 
the  country’s  mines  and  enlisting  the  assistance  of 
foreign  capital.  The  invitation  has  been  accepted,  and 
foreign  corporations  have  discovered  that,  besides 
yielding  what  alone  the  conquerors  valued — silver  and 
gold — Mexico  is  rich  in  copper  and  lead,  and  will  some 
day,  when  other  sources  of  iron  ore  are  becoming  ex¬ 
hausted,  supply  us  with  what  we  now  sell  her — iron 
and  steel. 

The  number  of  foreign  mining  companies  in  Mexico 
is  i,ii6.  Of  these,  about  57  per  cent,  are  con¬ 
trolled  by  citizens  of  the  United  States.  It  is  not 
possible  to  segregate  the  production  of  foreign  mining 
companies  from  the  total,  which  has  steadily  grown 
till  Mexico  leads  the  world  in  the  production  of  sil¬ 
ver,  with  61,147,203  ounces  in  1907 — ranks  fifth  in  the 
production  of  gold,  which  until  recently  was  a  neg¬ 
lected  branch  of  mining,  and  has  rapidly  risen  to 
second  place  in  the  production  of  copper,  that  for 
1907  having  been  61,127  tons.  She  is  only  exceeded 
in  the  production  of  lead  by  the  United  States,  Spain, 
Germany  and  Australia.  The  French  Company  at 
Boleo,  from  its  mines  in  Lower  California,  took  the 
lead  in  copper  mining,  but  American  companies  now 


6 


make  about  75  per  cent,  of  Mexico’s  total.  And  lead 
smelting  is  almost  entirely  in  American  hands. 

John  Taylor,  in  introducing  Mexican  mining  to  the 
British  public,  said  in  1824;  “The  Mexican  people  will 
eventually  be  much  benefited  by  the  application  and 
use  of  our  steam  engines,  and  probably  by  some  other 
improvements  we  may  carry  with  them.  They  invite 
our  assistance  in  a  friendly  manner,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  enlightened  part  of  the  nation  will  re¬ 
gard  us  favorably.  We  ought  to  do  our  part  to  de¬ 
serve  their  confidence  and  support.  A  connection  may 
thus  be  established  which  may  be  beneficial  to  the 
present  and  future  generations  of  both  countries.” 
(John  Taylor’s  Selections  from  the  works  of  Baron 
de  Humboldt,  1824,  page  419.) 

Mr.  Taylor’s  anticipations  have  been  fulfilled  so  far 
as  they  refer  to  reciprocal  material  benefits,  and  his 
hopes  have  not  been  contradicted  that  besides  financial 
gain  international  amity  has  in  the  long  run  accrued 
through  the  commercial  intercourse  of  foreign  in¬ 
vestors  and  the  people  of  Mexico. 

It  was  chiefly  English  capital  that  in  those  early 
days  embarked  in  Mexican  mines  or  furnished  ma¬ 
chinery  to  native  mining  companies.  There  was  not 
then  money  in  the  United  States  available  for  foreign 
investment.  In  the  next  decade  the  Texas  question 
was  settled  adversely  to  Mexico,  and  in  the  fourth 
decade  of  the  century  the  Mexican  War  broke  out, 
resulting  in  the  loss  of  California  by  Mexico.  The 
neighboring  republics  were  not  drawn  together  by 


7 


these  successive  conflicts,  but  it  was  another  war  which 
obliterated  the  rancour  and  distrust  on  the  part  of  the 
Mexicans  against  the  United  States.  When  Mexico 
was  invaded  by  the  French,  and  Maximilian  endeav¬ 
ored  to  found  a  Mexican  Empire,  though  the  United 
States  were  involved  in  their  own  terrible  internal 
struggle,  sympathy  went  forth  abundantly  to  Mexico, 
and  it  was  perfectly  understood  that  this  fraternal 
feeling  would  find  expression  in  acts  conformably  to 
the  Monroe  Doctrine,  if  necessity  required.  From  the 
date  of  the  Maximilian  invasion,  Mexico  has  recog¬ 
nized  the  United  States  as  an  ally  and  not  as  an 
enemy,  and  therefore  the  current  of  American  money 
commenced  to  flow  southward  across  the  international 
boundary.  Since  then  the  financial  rivulet  has  be¬ 
come  a  flood  of  such  volume  as  not  unnaturally  to  ex¬ 
cite  some  uneasiness  in  the  Alexican  mind.  American 
money  is  now  building  most  of  the  Mexican  railroads 
and  working  not  only  old  gold  and  silver  mines,  but 
proving  that  the  rocks  of  the  Republic  are  rich  in 
the  inferior  metals,  which  in  the  past  were  neglected, 
partly  because  they  could  not  have  been  profitably 
recovered  on  a  large  scale  without  the  aid  of  railroad 
transportation. 

From  Dr.  Pehafiel’s  Statistical  Tables  of  the  Move¬ 
ment  of  Alining  Companies,  we  gather  that  the  aver¬ 
age  annual  investment  in  mines  during  the  sixteen 
years  between  1892-1907  has  been,  reduced  to  gold, 
$7,000,000,  of  which  Mexico  contributed  about  51 
per  cent,  and  the  United  States  34  per  cent.  But  dur- 

8 


ing  that  period  substantially  all  the  large  metallurgical 
establishments  have  been  built  by  American  capital, 
and  are  managed  by  Americans.  United  States  Con¬ 
sul  General  Barlow  estimated  in  1902  that  there  was 
then  $80,000,000  of  American  capital  invested  in 
mines.  That  figure  is  under  the  mark  to-day.  The 
impression  made  by  the  heavy  American  investment 
must  be  measured  not  only  by  dollars  and  cents,  but 
by  the  scale  on  which  the  American  mining  and  smelt¬ 
ing  operations  are  conducted.  This  involves  the  con¬ 
centration  of  population  at  certain  centers  under  dis¬ 
tinctly  American  influences,  which  at  times  creates  dis¬ 
quietude  in  the  public  mind. 

But  the  investments  made  by  the  United  States  in 
klexican  mines  are  insignificant  as  compared  with  the 
money  which  this  country  has  contributed  to  the  build¬ 
ing  of  Mexican  railroads.  Looking  backward  to  the 
progress  of  railroad  building  in  the  Republic,  we  find 
that  the  first  railroad,  that  from  V era  Cruz  to  the 
City  of  Mexico,  owed  its  existence  to  English  enter¬ 
prise  ;  and  though  in  the  interval  between  that  date 
and  to-day  most  of  the  railroad  work  has  been  done 
by  Americans,  the  latest  completed  road,  that  across 
the  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec,  with  its  well  equipped 
termini  on  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  has  been  built  for 
and  leased  from  the  Mexican  Government  by  an  Eng¬ 
lish  firm.  As  soon,  however,  as  the  Santa  Fe  Rail¬ 
road  reached  El  Paso,  the  Alexican  Central  was  com¬ 
menced  as  a  road,  allied  to  the  Santa  Fe,  and  built 
from  El  PasQ  to  the  City  of  Mexico  between  1882 


9 


and  1884.  And  the  Santa  Fe  Railroad  itself  subse¬ 
quently  reached  the  Gulf  of  California  at  Guaymas 
by  the  Sonora  Railroad.  This  branch  of  the  Santa 
Fe,  however,  terminated  at  Benson,  on  the  Southern 
Pacific,  in  Arizona,  and  has  since  been  secured  by  the 
Southern  Pacific  in  exchange  for  a  California  con¬ 
nection.  It  thus  has  become  the  nucleus  of  the  ex¬ 
tensive  system  which  the  Southern  Pacific  is  building 
along  the  West  Coast  of  Mexico,  with  the  object  not 
only  of  traversing  the  deltas  of  the  Yaqui,  Mayo  and 
Fuerte  Rivers,  and  reaching  their  boundless  agricul¬ 
tural  possibilities,  and  of  developing  the  mineral 
wealth  of  Sonora  and  Sinaloa,  but  of  linking  the  Capi¬ 
tal  and  the  Plateau  States  with  the  Western  States. 
It  will  thus  afiford  to  the  Republic  the  same  political 
and  industrial  unity  which  the  trans-continental  roads 
have  given  to  the  United  States.  In  the  eighties,  while 
the  Mexican  Central  was  building,  Gen.  Palmer  pro¬ 
posed  to  connect  the  Denver  &  Rio  Grande  with  a  sys¬ 
tem  of  36-inch  roads  from  Laredo  southward  into 
Mexico,  then  called  the  Mexican  National.  It  was 
designed  to  perform  the  same  service  for  mines  in  the 
mountain  districts  of  northeastern  Mexico  as  his  roads 
were  giving  to  Colorado  miners.  His  complete  pro¬ 
gramme  was  never  carried  out,  and  the  Mexican  Na¬ 
tional  has  since  been  converted  into  a  broad  gauge 
and  become  government  property.  Another  railroad 
crossingthe  frontier  into  Mexico  was  built  in  that  same 
early  period  by  Mr.  Huntington  to  connect  his  South¬ 
ern  Pacific  at  Eagle  Pass  with  the  coal  mines  of 


10 


Coahuila.  This  has  been  extended  to  Torreon,  the 
City  of  Durango,  and  the  City  of  Mesris,  and  now 
forms  one  of  the  members  of  the  combination  of  rail¬ 
roads  controlled  and  operated  by  the  Government  as 
the  National  Railways  of  Mexico.  At  present,  besides 
the  Southern  Pacific  system,  Stillwell's  Orient  Road  is 
designed  to  connect  Kansas  City,  through  Chihuahua, 
with  Topolobampo,  on  the  Pacific,  and  meanwhile  a 
company  is,  with  America,  Canadian  and  English  capi¬ 
tal,  carrying  out  Mr.  Greene’s  railroad  and  lumbering 
schemes  in  the  Sierra  Madre  on  a  most  extensive  scale. 

Of  the  24,142  kilometers  of  steam  railroad  already 
constructed  in  Mexico,  not  including  private  roads, 
only  2,800  kilometers  have  been  built  by  European 
capital,  1,530  kilometers  by  the  Mexican  Government 
or  native  corporations,  and  the  balance,  say  19,000  kilo¬ 
meters,  have  been  built  by  American  capital.  But 
though  the  Government  built  less  than  2,000  kilo¬ 
meters,  they  now  control  no  less  than  11,828  kilo¬ 
meters,  or  nearly  one-half  of  the  total  mileage,  and 
operate  all  the  roads  they  control,  with  slight  excep¬ 
tions. 

Like  the  Government  of  Belgium  and  some  other 
European  states,  the  Mexican  Government  grants  to 
the  concessionaire  simply  a  lease  of  their  own  road 
for  one  hundred  years.  The  road  bed  and  all  im¬ 
movable  property  then  passes  into  the  possession  of 
the  Government,  the  rolling  stock  alone  to  be  paid  for 
on  a  valuation.  Now,  the  policy  of  the  Government 
seems  to  be  to  obtain  control  of  all  the  principal  rail- 


II 


road  thoroughfares  in  advance  of  the  expiry  of  the 
concessions,  and  as  the  terms  they  have  offered  to  the 
security  holders  of  such  roads  as  have  already  been 
acquired  are  fair  and  even  liberal,  not  only  has  the 
transfer  been  made,  without  exciting  friction  or  dis¬ 
content,  but  the  transaction  has  accentuated  the  con¬ 
fidence  of  foreign  capitalists  in  the  good  faith  of  the 
Government  and  the  security  of  their  investments. 

Under  the  terms  of  the  merger,  arrangement  has 
been  made  by  which  the  bonds  will  be  redeemed  be¬ 
fore  the  expiration  of  the  concession,  through  a  sink¬ 
ing  fund.  But  the  value  of  the  stock  expires  with 
the  concession,  when  in  any  case  the  stock  would 
be  almost  worthless. 

According  to  the  IMexican  Journal  of  Commerce,  the 
foreign  capital  invested  in  Mexican  railroads  up  to 
the  end  of  1903  was  $767,151,848,  Mexican  currency. 
Although  at  present  this  must  be  divided  nearly  by 
half,  owing  to  the  depreciation  in  silver,  much  of  the 
money  was  expended  when  silver  was  $1.29.  Of  that 
large  total,  80  per  cent,  is  assumed  to  have  been  con¬ 
tributed  by  the  United  States.  Since  that  date  the 
Southern  Pacific  of  Mexico  has  embarked  on  its  vast 
scheme  of  railroad  construction,  which  it  is  estimated 
will  cost  $70,000,000  in  gold. 

The  South  American  Journal,  published  in  London, 
states  that  the  investments  of  British  capital  have 
reached  £139,247,661,  or,  say,  $690,000,000,  of  which, 
however,  about  one-half  is  in  Government  Bonds. 
Mexican  railroads  owned  by  British  companies  have 


12 


issued  £17,308,000  of  securities,  and  on  railroads 
owned  and  controlled  by  the  Mexican  Government 
over  £37,000,000  have  been  expended.  Of  British  and 
Canadian  capital,  there  is  said  to  have  been  invested 
in  street  railroads,  power  plants,  ranches,  and  other 
industrial  enterprises,  £14,510,741,  and  it  is  proposed 
to  invest  not  less  than  £10,000,000  in  Chihuahua  lum¬ 
ber  and  railroad  schemes. 

The  advantages  of  the  freest  interchange  of  capital 
between  countries  in  return  for  national  products,  and 
for  providing  means  for  industrial  development,  are 
generally  admitted,  and  most  communities,  if  they  have 
neither  the  money  nor  the  skill  to  utilize  their  re¬ 
sources,  rejoice  if  foreigners  enter  and  aid  them,  pro¬ 
vided  the  foreigners,  in  so  doing,  obey  the  law.  But 
there  are  national  susceptibilities  as  well  as  statutory 
laws,  which  must  be  observed  if  foreign  money  and 
foreign  skill  and  influence  are  to  be  welcomed  in  a 
foreign  country.  If  we  compare  the  conditions  of 
industrial  life  in  the  United  States  and  in  Mexico,  we 
will  recognize  striking  differences  which  may  require 
special  treatment. 

The  investment  of  foreign  capital  in  national  com¬ 
panies  under  the  management  of  natives  and  employ¬ 
ing  native  labor  can  be  regarded  only  as  beneficial  to 
the  country  receiving  it.  Nor  need  it  give  rise  to 
jealousy.  Enormous  amounts  of  money  are  sought 
for  and  transmitted  from  England,  Erance  and  Ger¬ 
many,  to  be  employed  in  building  railroads  and  in 
conducting  industrial  enterprises  in  the  United  States. 


13 


But  with  few  exceptions  the  management  is  exclu¬ 
sively  in  American  hands,  and  the  law  forbids  the  im¬ 
portation  of  contract  labor.  In  Mexico  the  conditions 
are  the  reverse.  Until  recently  the  railroads  were 
owned  by  foreign  corporations — their  boards  were 
composed  of  foreigners  and  the  best  paid  posts  both 
in  the  administrative  and  the  operating  departments 
were  filled  by  foreigners.  Under  such  circumstances 
— if  from  no  other  consideration — it  was  a  wise  meas¬ 
ure  of  Senor  Limantour  to  acquire  the  North  and  South 
trunk  roads  and  to  control  most  of  the  other  principal 
highways  of  traffic.  In  a  prospectus  of  the  “National 
Railways  of  Mexico,”  Mr.  Bennett,  the  Vice-Presi¬ 
dent,  says  that  “the  Company  now  owns  by  direct 
ownership  the  properties  formerly  known  as  the  Mexi¬ 
can  Central  Railway  Company,  Ltd.,  National  Rail¬ 
road  Company  of  Mexico,  and  Hidalgo  and  North- 
Eastern  Railroad  Company,  Limited ;  and  controls 
through  stock  ownership  the  Mexican  International 
Railroad  Company,  the  Interoceanic  Railway  of 
Mexico  (Acapulco  to  Vera  Cruz),  Ltd.,  the  Texas- 
Mexican  Railway  and  the  Mexican  Pacific  Railway 
Company,  and  the  total  mileage  is  6,987  miles.” 

The  action  of  the  Federal  administration  and  the 
National  Congress,  in  forestalling  the  acquisition  of 
the  railroads  by  the  country  in  advance  of  the  ter¬ 
mination  of  their  franchises,  is  in  response  to  a  pro¬ 
nounced  national  movement  which  is  not  anti-foreign, 
but  pro  patria.  The  Government  does  not  wish  to 
arrest  the  flow  of  foreign  capital  into  the  country, 


14 


but  desires  to  secure  Mexican  co-operation  in  the  de¬ 
velopment  not  only  of  the  means  of  transportation  but 
of  the  nation’s  natural  resources.  There  is  no  reason 
why  Alexican  mining  companies,  for  instance — not 
foreign  companies,  with  a  protocolized  dummy  Mexi¬ 
can  corporation,  but  actual  Mexican  companies,  with 
Mexicans  as  well  as  foreigners  on  the  boards — should 
not  in  time  be  organized  and  operated.  Mexican 
methods  would  naturally  have  to  be  brought  into 
closer  harmony  with  foreign  methods  than  they  are 
to-day  before  that  consummation  is  reached,  but  it 
would  be  desirable,  when  mining  properties  are  sold 
by  Mexicans  to  foreigners,  that  the  value  of  the  mines 
should  be  taken  in  stock  by  the  owners.  Thus  native 
knowledge  of  the  laws  and  habits  of  the  country  in 
which  the  property  exists  would  supplement  in  the 
general  management  the  business  methods  and  techni¬ 
cal  skill  provided  by  the  stock  owned  by  the  foreign 
capital. 

Meanwhile,  however,  both  on  the  railroads  and  in 
the  mines  and  smelting  works,  preference  should  al¬ 
ways  be  given  to  native  labor.  There  is  a  dearth  of 
technical  skill  in  ^Mexico,  but  Mexican  youths  can 
be  rapidly  trained  into  good  technical  workers.  As 
little  foreign  labor  as  possible,  either  manual,  techni¬ 
cal  or  clerical,  should  be  employed.  Foreign  labor  al¬ 
ways  commands  a  higher  wage  than  is  paid  for  simi¬ 
lar  work  done  by  Mexicans,  and  till  the  Mexican  is 
trained  to  the  level  of  imported  workmen,  the  Mexi¬ 
can  deserves  less.  But  it  is  an  invidious  distinction, 


15 


however  real ;  and  it  inevitably  creates  heartburning 
and  discontent.  On  railroads,  native  employees  can 
fill  a  much  wider  sphere  than  they  generally  do.  As 
train  hands  they  are  apt,  and  obedient  to  orders,  and 
as  locomotive  engineers  and  firemen  ttiey  show  dis¬ 
tinct  mechanical  instincts. 

They  are  fearless  and  brave.  On  a  narrow  gauge 
line  between  tbe  Pilares  Mine  and  the  works  at 
Placerita,  in  Sonora,  a  Mexican  engineer,  Jesus  Garcia, 
with  a  Mexican  crew,  in  the  employ  of  the  Moc- 
tezuma  Copper  Co.,  was  hauling  open  cars  loaded 
with  dynamite.  When  on  a  grade  near  the  town  of 
Nacozari,  boxes  containing  the  dynamite  were  dis¬ 
covered  to  be  on  fire.  Anxious  to  pull  the  train  to  a 
safe  distance  from  the  town,  he  turned  on  steam. 
Not  a  man  left  his  post  till  Garcia,  seeing  that  the 
brakesmen  could  not  avert  the  catastrophe,  ordered 
them  to  jump.  He,  however,  remained  on  the  loco¬ 
motive,  and  with  his  hand  on  the  throttle  was  blown 
into  atoms,  meeting  a  fate  he  knew  to  be  inevitable, 
but  which  he  was  willing  to  suffer  in  order  to  save 
others.  He  was  only  a  Mexican  peon,  but  he  repre¬ 
sented  the  stolid  bravery  of  the  race,  which,  more¬ 
over,  is  not  lacking  in  intelligence,  and  which,  under 
just  and  firm  guidance,  can  be  educated  to  occupy  any 
position  which  men  of  other  nationalities  of  the  same 
training  can  fill.  As  a  miner  the  Mexican  possesses 
manual  dexterity  of  a  high  order,  but  it  requires 
time  to  eradicate  the  old  habits  of  mine  working, 
which  he  and  his  forebears  have  acquired  through 

i6 


generations  of  practice.  Around  a  furnace  he  is  at 
home.  Like  all  dwellers  in  a  tropical  or  semi-tropical 
clime,  he  has  never  felt  the  necessity  of  steady  work, 
and  therefore  has  never  habituated  himself  to  it ;  but 
he  rapidly  learns  to  discard  sandals  and  wear  shoes, 
and  to  imitate  the  higher  standards  of  living  of  his 
northern  fellow-workers.  He  soon  learns  that  to  main¬ 
tain  that  position  he  must  make  money  and  work 
steadily.  He  therefore  abandons  his  erratic  habits. 
If  the  managers  of  foreign  companies  would  tempor¬ 
arily  submit  to  some  inconvenience  and  annoyance,  in¬ 
volved  in  employing  more  Mexicans  and  fewer  foreign 
workmen,  they  would  before  long  not  only  find  it  to 
be  to  their  profit,  but  they  would  help  to  alleviate  the 
smouldering  feeling  of  jealousy  and  dread  which  can 
be  used  so  widely  and  successfully  by  such  agitators 
as  wish  to  use  the  pro  patria  movement  for  political 
purposes. 

There  is  no  denying  that  a  dread  of  the  overwhelm¬ 
ing  strength  of  the  United  States  has  always  pos¬ 
sessed  the  Mexican  mind.  Don  Pablo  Macedo,  in 
his  chapter  on  Railroads,  tells  us  of  the  conferences 
which  preceded  the  adoption  of  the  railroad  policy 
in  Mexico.  He  says :  “In  deciding  on  the  gauge  the 
truth  is  that  the  question  was  discussed,  whether  or 
not  they  should  accept  the  gauge  adopted  by  their 
neighbours  of  the  Northern  Republic.  It  was  a  con¬ 
sideration  of  the  gravest  moment,  and  transcended 
all  others.  No  one,  and  still  less  statesmen  of  the 
status  of  Senor  Lerdo  de  Tejada,  has  ever  been  blind 


17 


to  the  danger  that  we  run  from  the  nearness  of  our 
colossal  neighbors  on  the  north.  In  comparison  with 
the  United  States — more’s  the  pity — we  must  confess 
that  we  then  figured,  and  we  still  do,  as  a  mere  pigmy. 
Besides  this  the  sad  memory  of  the  iniquitous  war  of 
1847,  which  cost  us  the  half  of  our  territory,  is  more 
than  enough  cause  to  excite  uneasiness  and  even  dread. 
Such  apprehension  is  certainly  not  unreasonable  or 
groundless.  As  a  consequence,  the  distinct  object  of 
our  international  policy  has  necessarily  always  been, 
in  the  first  place,  to  grow  by  natural  expansion,  to  for¬ 
tify  our  national  organisms,  and  then  to  seek  from  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic  a  support  which  alone  can 
be  efficacious  by  creating,  acclimatizing  and  strength¬ 
ening  European  interests  and  elements.  Unfortun¬ 
ately,  the  unjustifiable  French  interventions,  obliging 
us  to  sustain  a  war  a  routrance  in  order  to  preserve 
our  very  existence  as  a  nation,  interrupted  our  organic 
development,  and  not  only  weakened  our  position  phy¬ 
sically,  through  the  material  sacrifices  which  we  had 
to  make,  but  morally,  by  creating  divisions  greater 
than  had  previously  existed.  The  blood  of  Maxi¬ 
milian  created  an  abyss  between  Europe  and  Mexico. 
His  death,  though  it  may  have  been  the  only  means, 
sad  as  it  was,  of  securing  internal  peace,  estranged 
the  sympathies  of  those  nations  which  then  exercised 
preponderating  influence  in  Europe.”  (La  Evolucion 
Mercantil  por  Pablo  Macedo,  page  199.) 

The  above  extract  probably  expresses  correctly  the 
prevalent  feeling  among  the  educated  classes  in  the 

18 


past  and  in  the  present.  And  it  is  they  alone  who 
can  exert  political  power ;  for  though  the  franchise  is 
universal,  under  the  Constitution  of  1857  the  elec¬ 
toral  law  of  1901,  the  vote  is  really  cast  by  an  electoral 
college,  composed  of  one  elector  for  each  500  inhabi¬ 
tants,  and  the  members  cannot  be  supposed  to  know  the 
wishes  of  their  constituents  as  distinctly  as  those  who 
meet  to  vote  for  the  President  of  this  country. 

Universal  suffrage,  therefore,  in  Mexico  does  not 
voice  the  popular  will  as  distinctly  as  it  does  in  this 
country;  but  from  one  motive  or  another  there  is  an 
almost  universal  and  reasonable  dread  of  offending 
this  country,  under  the  belief  that  the  consequences 
might  be  disagreeable  and  fall  with  lightning  speed. 
For  every  citizen  of  the  United  States  who  enters  the 
Republic  for  the  transaction  of  business  or  to  engage 
in  industrial  pursuits,  through  some  indiscretion  of  his 
own  or  through  some  arbitrary  act  of  an  over-zealous 
Alexican  official,  may  give  rise  to  international  com¬ 
plications.  These  risks  are  greater  by  far  in  a  sparsely 
settled  country  like  Mexico  than  in  a  land  where  the 
provincial  government  is  thoroughly  organized  and 
under  strict  control  of  the  central  power;  and  it  is 
difficult  to  maintain  perfect  order  and  to  mete  out 
perfect  justice  where  the  officials  cannot  possibly  be 
men  trained  for  their  posts. 

In  this  rapid  influx  of  foreign  capital,  under  foreign 
management,  the  Mexican  sees  therefore  cause  for 
anxiety  which  is  in  itself  a  source  of  danger ;  and  it 
cannot  be  wondered  at  if  tbeir  sensitiveness  is  in- 


19 


creased  by  the  memory  of  the  original  Texas  diffi¬ 
culty,  and  the  fact  that  till  recently  the  border  popu¬ 
lation  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  possessed  of 
irresistible  energy,  found  vent  for  it  sometimes 
in  eccentric  enterprises  which  were  not  suggested 
by  the  State  Department.  Most  wars  have  originated 
in  trade  disputes  or  commercial  jealousy;  and  so  ready 
are  our  frontiersmen  to  avenge  any  injury  or  insult 
that  they  have  not  waited  for  declarations  of  war  be¬ 
fore  taking  the  law  into  their  own  hands.  There 
have  been  instances  even  recently  where  armed  bands 
have  crossed  the  line  to  forcibly  maintain  what  they 
conceived  or  at  any  rate  claimed  to  be  their  rights. 
Besides  which,  there  are  people — presumably  well  in- 
tentioned — north  of  the  line,  who,  comparing  political 
conditions  in  their  own  country  with  those  prevailing 
in  Mexico,  consider  that  interference  in  favor  of 
their  neighbours  is  a  duty.  They  do  not  always  weigh 
the  difference  in  the  habits  and  education  of  the  voters, 
which  this  arbitrary  boundary  divides ;  and  that  truer 
liberty  may  coincide  with  limited  rather  than  with  un¬ 
limited  franchise  during  a  certain  stage  of  a  people’s 
social  and  political  development. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  life  and  property  are  safe 
in  Mexico  to  an  eminent  degree,  considering  the  diffi¬ 
culty  of  policing  such  a  rugged  country,  inhabited  by 
a  scanty  and  scattered  population.  Foreigners  have 
certainly  had  no  reason  to  complain  of  ill-treatment, 
nor  of  such  arbitrary  methods  being  practised  against 
them  as  it  is  deemed  necessary  to  the  public  safety 


20 


whether,  wisely  or  not,  to  inflict  on  natives  who  break 
or  are  suspected  of  breaking  the  law.  The  greatest 
reserve,  therefore,  in  speech  and  action  should,  as  a 
matter  of  courtesy,  be  maintained  by  those  who  enjoy 
the  privilege  and  hospitality,  so  liberally  extended  to 
strangers  and  to  their  capital.  Moreover,  the  resident 
from  abroad  in  a  foreign  land,  who  imports,  together 
with  his  capital  and  skill,  his  native  prejudices  and 
points  of  view,  is  often  ill-fitted  to  be  a  just  judge  of 
the  virtues  and  defects  of  the  strange  people  and  their 
stranger  customs,  into  contact  with  which  he  is  thus 
temporarily  and  seldom  intimately  thrown 

JAMES  DOUGLAS. 


21 


COUNCIL  OF  DIRECTION  OF  THE 
AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION  FOR  INTERNATIONAL  CONCILIATION 


Lyman  Abbott,  New  York. 

Charles  Francis  Adams,  Boston. 

Edwin  A.  Alderman,  Charlottesville,  Va. 

Charles  H.  Ames,  Boston,  Mass. 

Richard  Bartholdt,  M.  C.,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

George  Blumenthal,  New  York. 

Clifton  R.  Breckenridge,  Fort  Smith,  Arkansas. 
William  J.  Bryan,  Lincoln,  Neb. 

T.  E.  Burton,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Nicholas  Murray  Butler,  New  York. 

Andrew  Carnegie,  New  York. 

Edward  Cary,  New  York. 

Joseph  H.  Choate,  New  York. 

Richard  H.  Dana,  Boston,  Mass. 

Arthur  L.  Dasher,  Macon,  Ga. 

Horace  E.  Deming,  New  York. 

Charles  W.  Eliot,  Cambridge,  Mass. 

John  W.  Foster,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Robert  A.  Franks,  Orange,  N.  J. 

John  Arthur  Greene,  New  York. 

James  M.  Greenwood,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

Franklin  H.  Head,  Chicago,  III. 

William  J.  Holland,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

Hamilton  Holt,  New  York. 

James  L.  Houghteling,  Chicago,  III. 

David  Starr  Jordan,  Stanford  University,  Cal. 

J.  H.  Kirkland,  Nashville,  Tenn. 

Adolph  Lewlsohn,  New  York. 

Seth  Low,  New  York. 

Clarence  H.  Mackay,  New  York. 

Theodore  Marburg,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Brander  Matthews,  New  York. 

Silas  McBee,  New  York. 

George  B.  McClellan,  New  York. 

W.  W.  Morrow,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 

Paul  Morton,  New  York. 

Levi  P.  Morton,  New  York. 

Stephen  H.  Olin,  New  York. 

A.  V.  V.  Raymond,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Ira  Remsen,  Baltimore,  Md. 

James  Ford  Rhodes,  Boston,  Ma.ss. 

Howard  J.  Rogers,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Elihu  Root,  Washington,  D.  C. 

J.  G.  Schurman,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 

Isaac  N.  Sei.igman,  New  York. 

F.  J.  V.  Skiff,  Chicago,  III. 

William  M.  Sloane,  New  York. 

Albert  K.  Smiley,  Lake  Mohonk,  N.  Y. 

James  Speyer,  New  York. 

Oscar  S.  Straus,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Mrs.  Mary  Wood  Swift,  Berkeley,  Cal. 

George  W.  Taylor,  M.  C.  Demopolis,  Ala, 

O.  H.  Tittman,  Washington,  D.  C. 

W.  H.  Tolman,  New  York. 

Benjamin  Trueblood,  Boston,  Ma.ss. 

Edward  Tuck,  Paris,  France. 

William  D.  Wheelwright,  Portland,  Ore. 

CONCILIATION  INTERNATIONALE 

iig  Rue  de  la  Tour,  Paris,  France 
President  Fondateur,  Baron  D’Estournelles  de  Constant 
Member  Hague  Court,  Senator 

Honorary  Presidents  :  Berthelot  and  Leon  Bourgeois,  Senators 
Secretaries  General :  A.  Metin  and  Jules  Rais 
Treasurer:  Albert  Kahn 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  THE 

AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION  FOR  INTERNATIONAL  CONCILIATION 


1.  Program  of  the  Association,  by  Baron  d’Estournelles  de  Constant.  April, 

1907. 

2.  Results  of  the  National  Arbitration  and  Peace  Congress,  by  Andrew  Car¬ 
negie.  April,  1907. 

3.  A  League  of  Peace,  by  Andrew  Carnegie.  November,  1907. 

4.  The  results  of  the  Second  Hague  Conference,  by  Baron  d’Estournelles  de 
Constant  and  Hon.  David  Jayne  Hill.  December,  1907. 

5.  The  Work  of  the  Second  Hague  Conference,  by  James  Brown  Scott.  Jan¬ 
uary,  1908. 

6.  Possibilities  of  Intellectual  Co-operation  Between  North  and  South  America, 
by  L.  S.  Rowe.  April,  1908. 

7.  America  and  Japan,  by  George  Trumbull  Ladd.  June,  1908. 

8.  The  Sanction  of  International  Law,  by  Elihu  Root.  July,  igo8. 

9.  The  United  States  and  France,  by  Barrett  Wendell.  August,  1908. 

10.  The  Approach  of  the  Two  Americas,  by  Joaquim  Nabuco.  September, 

1908. 

11.  The  United  States  and  Canada,  by  J.  S.  Willison.  October,  1908. 

12.  The  Policy  of  the  United  States  and  Japan  in  the  Far  East.  November, 
1908. 

13.  European  Sobriety  in  the  Presence  of  the  Balkan  Crisis,  by  Charles  Austin 
Beard.  December,  1908. 

14.  The  Logic  of  International  Co-operation,  by  F.  W.  Hirst.  January,  igog. 

15.  American  Ignorance  of  Oriental  Languages,  by  J.  H.  DeForest.  Feb¬ 
ruary,  1909. 

16.  America  and  the  New  Diplomacy,  by  James  Brown  Scott.  March,  1909. 

17.  The  Delusion  of  Militarism,  by  Charles  E.  Jefferson.  April,  igog. 

18.  The  Causes  of  War,  by  Elihu  Root.  May,  1909. 

19.  The  United  States  and  China,  by  Wei-ching  Yen.  June,  1909. 

20.  Opening  Address  at  the  Lake  Mohonk  Conference  on  International  Arbi¬ 
tration,  by  Nicholas  Murray  Butler.  July,  1909. 

21.  Journalism  and  International  Affairs,  by  Edward  Cary.  August,  1909. 

22.  Influence  of  Commerce  in  the  Promotion  of  International  Peace,  by  John 
Ball  Osborne.  September,  igog. 

23.  The  United  States  and  Spain,  by  Martin  Hume.  October,  igoq. 

24.  The  American  Public  School  as  a  Factor  in  International  Conciliation,  by 
Myra  Kelly.  November,  1909. 

25.  Cecil  Rhodes  and  His  Scholars  as  Factors  in  International  Conciliation, 
by  F.  J.  Wylie.  December,  1909. 

26.  The  East  and  the  West,  by  Seth  Low.  January,  1910. 

27.  The  Moral  Equivalent  of  War,  by  William  James.  February,  1910. 

28.  International  Unity,  by  Philander  C.  Knox.  March,  1910. 

The  United  States  and  Australia,  by  Percival  R.  Cole.  March,  1910. 

29.  The  United  States  and  Germany,  by  Karl  Von  Lewinski.  April,  1910. 

30.  The  United  States  and  Mexico,  by  James  Douglas.  May,  igto. 

A  small  edition  of  a  monthly  bibliography  of  articles  having  to 
do  with  international  matters  is  also  published  and  distributed  to 
libraries,  magazines  and  newspapers. 

Up  to  the  limit  of  the  editions  printed,  any  one  of  the  above  will 
be  sent  postpaid  upon  receipt  of  a  request  addressed  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  American  Association  for  International  Conciliation,  Post 
Office  Sub-Station  84,  New  York,  N.  Y. 


Exf.cutive  Committee 


Nicholas  Murray  Butler 
Richard  Bartholdt 
Lyman  Abbott 
James  Speyer 


Stephen  Henry  Olin 
Seth  Low 
Robert  A.  Franks 
Paul  Morton 


George  Blumenthal 


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